Uncommon Media

Satellite TV &
Islamic Pop Culture
in Egypt
Pat r i c i a KU B ALA Before the advent of the satellite era, With the proliferation of music video channels tian boy-band WAMA, for example,
state television channels did (and con- on pan-Arab satellite television in the past released in 2005 the popular hit Kan
tinue to) broadcast religious genres of decade, new styles of religious-themed videos Nifsi (I wish that I could)—a slow, lyri-
music during major Islamic religious are appearing on these alternative outlets cal song with no musical features to
holidays and during the month of Ra- to state television broadcasting. The growth mark it as “religious” except the faint
madan. These songs are usually older and popularity of this new genre of religious sounds of the call to prayer, set against
recordings in classical Arabic, with lim- music videos, along with “clean” cinema and the background noise of a busy metro-
ited instrumental accompaniment and Islamic satellite television productions, reflects politan city, that begin the track. Using
juxtaposed with montages of low-qual- shifting discourses concerning the arts and the simple colloquial language that
ity, stock images—primarily of natural entertainment within the Islamic Revival. This predominates in shababi music, the
phenomena, religious sites, Arabic cal- essay explores the appearance of these music four university-aged members of the
ligraphy and the Quran, and Muslims videos within a particular cultural moment group take turns singing of their de-
engaged in ritual acts such as circu- in the Arab world in which popular culture sire to meet the prophet Muhammad,
mambulation of the Kaaba in Mecca. is increasingly the site of ethical-aesthetic to sit with him and his companions in
Very rarely are the singer or singers (fre- interventions aimed at moral and social reform. heaven, and to follow his path in Islam.
quently, but not always, male) depicted Dressed in chic, all-white casual cloth-
alongside the images, and in general, these videos convey a sense of ing, the boys wander among the golden sand dunes of a beautiful re-
solemn religiosity set apart from the ordinary rhythm of daily life. mote desert location, the kind that financially comfortable Egyptians,
In contrast, popular pan-Arab satellite music video channels such as not just foreigners, increasingly frequent as the national tourist indus-
Mazzika, Melody, and Rotana broadcast a new style of religious music try taps into the disposable incomes of the new moneyed classes creat-
video that combines lyrics in colloquial Arabic in praise of God and the ed by the neo-liberal economic policies of the past three decades. The
prophet Muhammad with shababi (youth) style instrumental music video ends with the boys walking into the sunset shoulder to shoulder,
and a new set of high-quality, commercially appealing images and sto- conveying a message of brotherly unity in Islam.
rylines in contemporary settings. Although they are broadcast more
frequently during the month of Ramadan and religious holidays, the Pious performers
most popular songs appear throughout the year and like other music Although many of these stylish religious songs, like the WAMA video
videos that circulate within the prospering satellite television-mobile described above, present male homosocial worlds and bonding expe-
phone economy, they are available for downloading as ring tones or riences in Islam, others prominently feature female performers. One
videos onto viewers’ cell phones. example is the song Illa Ibn Abdallah (Except for the Son of Abdallah),
This new trend of commoditized religious music video emphasizes which was first aired around the time of the Prophet’s birthday cel-
Sami Yusuf, the dignity and humanity of Islam and its harmonious integration ebration (Mawlid al-Nabi) in 2006. A response to the Danish cartoon
Amman, 2006 with a comfortable, middle-class modern lifestyle. The popular Egyp- controversy, the video features a large group of pan-Arab singers stag-
ing a peaceful protest to express outrage over the deroga-
tory treatment of the Prophet and their love and respect for
the son of Abdallah (the name of Muhammad’s father) and
his religion. The female performers, dressed in fashionable
white veils, sing in the chorus and alternate with their male
counterparts as soloists; one of the female singers, Sahar
Fadil, is a “repentant” artist who used to star in racy music
videos of the variety referred to by critics as “burnu klibhat”
(porno clips). Another example from Ramadan 2006 is the
song Khaliha ‘Ala Allah (Leave the Matter to God), performed
by the respected Syrian singer Assala Nasry. The lyrics in
Egyptian colloquial praise God and describe the singer’s

Image not available online pious love and devotion, and the images depict her (veiled)
in prayer and (unveiled) reading the Quran, donating food,
and breaking the Ramadan fast with her children in her well-
P h o t o b y S TR N e w / © R e u t e r s , 2 0 0 6

appointed home.
The growing number and popularity of songs such as
these reflect the broader trend toward public displays of Is-
lamic piety and increased support for Islamist socio-political
visions that have marked Arab society as a whole since the
1970s. But it must be stressed that the Islamic Revival has af-
fected the Arab world’s entertainment industry, in particular
its twentieth-century capital, Egypt, in a number of different
ways (see Van Nieuwkerk’s article in this issue for further dis-
cussion of this history). In the 1980s and early 1990s, popular

60 ISIM REVIEW 20 / AUTUMN 2007

 Uncommon Media
Egyptian cassette and television preachers such as Shaykh Abd al-Ha-
mid Kishk, Shaykh Muhammad Mitwalli al-Shaarawi, and Shaykh Omar
Abd al-Kafi criticized Egypt’s national entertainment industry as mor-
ally harmful to Muslim audiences and called upon performers to re-
pent and retire from their professional activities.1 The Egyptian national
press sensationalized cases of these “conversions” and attributed them
to the spread of extremism and corrupting Gulf influences on Egyp-
tian society. While male stars were also part of this phenomenon, the
veiling and repentance of female entertainers by far received the most
attention in the popular media. Although most of these “repentant” fe-
male artists left the entertainment industry, a few, such as Huda Sultan,
donned the veil but continued to work under conditions acceptable to
their new sense of religiosity.
Since the late 1990s, many male and female performers and media
personalities have embraced the latter alternative. The advent of tran-
snational satellite television broadcasting in the Arab world in the late
1990s has been accompanied by an explosion in private, commercial
television productions with Islamic themes. Muslim scholars, popular
preachers, and producers are actively encouraging the creation of alter-
native forms of pious entertainment, and the growth of religious satel-
lite television programming in the last decade has provided numerous
opportunities for formally retired male and female media personalities
to utilize their talents, but this time appearing in Islamic-appropriate
dress as preachers, hosts of talk show programmes, or actors in televi-
sion serials with suitably pious roles. In the Egyptian cinema industry,
a growing number of filmmakers, actors, and actresses, veiled and un-
veiled, refuse to visually portray sexually explicit scenes, appear in im-
modest clothing, or depict immoral characters. The new regime of mor-
ally disciplined representations in the “clean cinema” trend, as Egyp-
tian critics have dubbed it, marks a shift in the Islamic Revival towards
regarding the entertainment industry as an arena for refashioning
religio-ethical norms, particularly ones surround-
ing the female body and sexuality. In this new site
of social reform, as Karim Tartoussieh notes in a
perceptive recent analysis of clean cinema, “The [E]ntertainers
sinfulness of art—a discourse that was prevalent
in the 1980s and resulted in many female actors
renouncing their artistic careers and veiling—is and media
replaced by a different discourse that is amicable
to popular culture as an arena of social purity and
morality.”2 This alternative discourse of al-fann al- personalities ...
hadif (purposeful art) stresses the responsibility
of the artist to serve as a model of moral decency
and to convey socially constructive messages in distance themselves
his or her work.
Purposeful art from the cultural
The increasing presence and popularity of re-
ligious videos on satellite music television chan-
nels reflects this shift towards al-fann al-hadif association of art
within the Islamic Revival’s discourse regarding
entertainment and the arts, a discourse that is
often reflected in the images and narrative tropes with immorality.
of the music videos themselves. Sami Yusuf’s hit
music video al-Mu‘allim (The Teacher) provides
an exemplary illustration of the proper relationship between artists,
social responsibility, and Islamic piety articulated within the discourse
of al-fann al-hadif. A transnationally acclaimed British artist of Azeri
origin, Yusuf was introduced to Arab satellite television audiences by
the popular preacher Amr Khaled, whose discussions on culture and
media on the programme Sunna‘ al-Hayah (Lifemakers) encouraged
young Muslim artists not to retire but to use their God-given talents
in the service of strengthening the Muslim community.3 A trained mu-
sician and composer but not a native Arabic speaker, Yusuf’s albums
blend primarily English lyrics with Arabic, Turkish, and Hindi vocals and
refrains, and his compositions employ a range of Middle Eastern and
Western instruments, rhythms, and melodic themes. The singer’s first
album, entitled al-Mu‘allim (The Teacher)—referring, of course, to the
prophet Muhammad—was released in 2003, and a music video of the
title track was shot in Egypt using an Egyptian director (Hani Usama)
and production team. It debuted on Arab music satellite television sta-
tions during Ramadan 2004, and it has remained one of the most popu-
lar and frequently aired religious music videos since then.
ISIM REVIEW 20 / AUTUMN 2007 61
The video of “al-Mu‘allim” juxtaposes English Notes
and Arabic lyrics in praise of the prophet Muham- 1. For an insightful analysis of these figures’
mad with images of a chic young photographer, critiques of secular media culture, see
portrayed by the singer, going about his daily life; Charles Hirschkind, The Ethical Soundscape:
working in his studio in his large, well-appointed Cassette Sermons and Islamic Counterpublics
suburban Cairo home; behaving kindly to his veiled (New York: Columbia University Press, 2006),
old mother and the people in his community; and in particular, chapter 4.
teaching religious lessons to children amidst the 2. Karim Tartoussieh, “Pious Stardom: Cinema
splendour of Islamic Cairo’s medieval architectural and the Islamic Revival in Egypt,” Arab
heritage. At the end of the video, he drives off in Studies Journal 15, no. 1 (2007): 41.
an SUV to undertake a solo photography shoot in 3. See the English-language transcript of this
the desert, and in the darkness, he captures on film programme available from Amr Khaled’s
the image of a glowing, Kaaba-like structure radi- official website, http://www.amrkhaled.net/
ating light, perhaps meant to symbolize al-nur al- articles/articles406.html.
muhammadi (the primordial light of Muhammad). 4. Sami Yusuf’s website—www.samiyusuf.
The video thus emphasizes the special role that the com—posts statements by the singer on his
artist, in this case a photographer, plays in devoting music and current events and also includes
his talents to expressing the beauty of God’s crea- links to several interviews with the press.
tion and the truth of the Prophet’s message. At the 5. A concise summary of medieval and modern
same time, he leads an exemplary and pious life in Muslim viewpoints on this issue is found in
his community, all the while enjoying the techno- Lois Al-Faruqi, “Music, Musicians, and Muslim
logical amenities and comforts of a modern, cos- Law,” Asian Music 17, no. 1 (1985): 3–36.
mopolitan lifestyle. In this way, Yusuf’s on-screen 6. Karin van Nieuwkerk, “A Trade Like Any
music video persona embodies the ideals of al-fann Other”: Female Singers and Dancers in Egypt
al-hadif—tasteful art with an appropriate message (Cairo: The American University in Cairo
of moral respectability and social responsibility—a Press, 1996).
persona that is reinforced by the singer’s interviews
and website statements that articulate his dedication to working for the
well-being of the Muslim ummah.4
Importantly, the music video as a genre on the whole stands in sharp
contrast to the moral parameters of al-fann al-hadif in the minds of many
viewers in the Arab world. The same satellite music
channels that broadcast the new style of religious
videos also broadcast a notorious and controversial
style of racy music videos, labelled “burnu klibhat”
(porno clips) by critics, that the genre of music vid-
eos as a whole has become associated with. While
the banal lyrics, hackneyed tunes, and apolitical
nature of these videos also draw criticism, what
audiences and critics object to most are the reveal-
ing clothes and overtly seductive dance moves of
the female models and singers. These sexualized
representations of female entertainers, as well as
the considerable outcry against them, echo the
centuries-old debate in the Islamic tradition over
the moral character of artists and the potentially
dangerous affect of music and entertainment upon
the subjectivity of the audience.5 As the work of
Karin van Nieuwkerk, among others, demonstrates,
female entertainers are regarded as particularly
threatening because the improper display of their
bodies is understood to easily tempt male specta-
tors to commit adultery and other grave sins.6
By adhering to the chaste conventions of the
clean cinema genre, which many television dra-
mas as well as the new style of religious music videos also uphold, male
and female entertainers and media personalities distance themselves
from the cultural association of art with immorality. While representa-
tions of women as mothers, devout believers, and socially responsible
members of their communities and the Muslim ummah are common
in the religious videos, depictions of women in sexual relationships as
lovers or even wives are scarce. In this way, female singers and mod-
els in religious songs mark out a respectable place for themselves in
a media genre (the music video) that has become overwhelmingly as-
sociated with immodesty and sexual immorality. As the pop religious
music video genre evolves with the shifts in the Islamic Revival and
local and international political events, the gender dynamics currently
on display can also be expected to shift.
Patricia Kubala is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Anthropology, University of California,
Berkeley.
Email: pkubala@berkeley.edu